AbstractEntityJ

@SGnoses But the US sunbelt has more of those warm weather traits in people's behavior even among whites. Although you could say that even for many parts of the northern US to be fair.

@AbstractEntityZ That’s because they’re descendent from the same people.

I feel like Australians in some ways are a massive exception to the rule that climate shapes culture and personality. Despite being a largely subtropical country, most of the people I interacted with there seemed very similar to Canadians in many ways.

@PatronAspen Well, the issue is, Australia is undergoing the same multicultural mass immigration from every corner of the globe as the rest of us in the western world. So, if present trends continue, we won't really be able to see how they would've evolved as a culture otherwise.

I don't give a shit if fossil fuel companies are 99.9% white goy-led and white goy-operated. They're still one of the most evil industries out there.

The Odyssey would be a rare case where I could understand somebody using AI to make an unofficial edit of the movie. To remove all the woke stuff of course.

Also making a lot of money doesn't mean it was a good movie. But in this case, it actually was for the most part.

The Odyssey making a ton of money doesn't vindicate its woke aspects. It was a good movie in spite of those aspects, not because of them.

@PatronAspen How do physiognomy bros explain him? He is the archetypical Chad in appearance.

@RedWavePress Tigers?

Joe Rogan: “The liberals who want to turn Texas Blue, like, don’tttt. You’re going to ruin it. You’re going to ruin it for you, too.” “There’s a saying about Austin: ‘Keep Austin Weird and Surrounded.’” “Surrounded by red people. Like, it’s all Red states around you and it’s this pocket of Blue that’s in the center of this Red state. I think that’s good for everybody. I think that’s good, it’s a balance.” “The Austin balance is a great balance. It’s a liberal city surrounded by like hardcore Republicans with guns and tigers!” “It works! It makes for nice people.”

@TallRomanStatue Beirut used to be a lot more beautiful before the Lebanese Civil War. It destroyed a lot of it.

Imagine if Beirut celebrated its French, Byzantine, and Crusader heritage

The more I read about people's experiences at metal and hardcore concerts, the more glad I am that I've only been to a few concerts in my life. Some of these concerts sound like a recipe for death and serious injury. Which I guess is metal AF. But still miss me with that shit.

@loganb @_caswel @JCovetti At the same time, have you ever been on a really long backpacking trip or anything like that? Sometimes situations can happen where you smell a bit bad.

@AbstractEntityZ @_caswel @JCovetti I kinda feel like it’d be a useful social service if your taxi service told you that you need to shower more.

Sharing a pod with 2 or 3 random strangers as opposed to many in a train or bus might actually increase your chance of being victimized by people engaging in criminal acts.

@jkenney It's because Macdonald founded Canada. That's the main reason.

💯 The campaign of cancelling Canadian historical figures doesn’t even pretend to apply a consistent standard. For example, compare Wilfried Laurier to John Macdonald. Laurier: - Massively expanded the Indian Residential School System beyond its relatively modest start under the Macdonald government; - Suppressed the 1907 Bryce Report, which detailed poor living conditions in Indian residential schools, and called for reforms; - Increased the Chinese Head Tax tenfold from $50 under Macdonald, to a prohibitive $500. Also prepared the groundwork for the Liberal King government’s 1923 “Exclusion Act” which barred Chinese from immigrating; - Adopted the Continuous Journey Policy, whose explicit goal was to bar the immigration of South Asians, and which led to the tragic Komagatu Maru incident. This was done *against* the advice of the Imperial government in London; - In 1911 Laurier signed an order in council prohibiting “any immigrants belonging to the Negro race, which race is deemed unsuitable.” - Seized Indian Treaty lands, and repeatedly violated treaties By today’s standards, Laurier’s record was infinitely worse than Macdonald’s on these and other issues. And yet no one has torn down Laurier statues, or removed his name from hundreds of roads, schools, and buildings. Parks Canada hasn’t turned Laurier’s house in Ottawa into a horror house of historic wrongs, as they did to Macdonald’s house in Kingston. In fact, the Liberal Party, one of the catalysts of cancelling Canadian history, continues to honour Laurier by naming its major donor club after him. You can’t make this up. Why the double standards? Is it because in the lunatic world of intersectionality, Laurier’s status as a French Canadian trumps Macdonald’s as a Scot? (Even though Laurier came from a well off family, and Macdonald was from a family of hardscrabble Highland Clearance Scots?) Is it because Liberals have used their dominant role in “Official Canada” to define our history? To be clear: I’m not calling for Laurier’s cancellation. Despite his flaws he was a great, consequential leader. So too was John Macdonald. I’m calling for a reversal of this entire, arbitrary, demoralizing project of wrecking our history.

@loganb @_caswel @JCovetti Or perhaps men who might look at an attractive woman a bit too long but wouldn't actually violate or harass her in any way.

@loganb @_caswel @JCovetti Perhaps, yes. Or someone who just gives off generally "creepy" vibes by being dishevelled and perhaps lacking in hygiene.

@lacherbauer @conditionalZep1 The potential earthquake is another major risk factor.

@conditionalZep1 Istanbul is having somewhat of a renaissance now. Sure it’s not Byzantium or Constantinople, but I think Istanbul is only going to gain in prominence in the coming years and decades. Major risk factor is an untidy Erdogan succession.

Chicago’s relevance or prominence seems to have peaked in the 90s/00s. Why? It’s a mix of factors. Some were simply beyond anyone’s control, things naturally age out: the Bulls, John Hughes films, Oprah, Springer, even Obama's rise, moments/phenomenons pass. One of the biggest factors, though, was local leadership. Mayor Richard M. Daley was an aggressive booster who took promoting and running the city quite personally, it showed in the development and civic momentum during those years. The population grew for the first time in 50 years. Daley seemed to seize every opportunity that arose, even if he didn't get everything right. Some of that momentum carried into Rahm Emanuel's administration, its totally gone now with the shambolic Lightfoot and Johnson mayorships. Also, Rising crime numbers during pro-crime State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s tenure contributed to a perception that Chicago was less hospitable to residents and businesses, shootings and lootings were regular headlines. Economically, while Chicago remains a major financial center, it didn't emerge from the GFC with the same renewed momentum as NYC, and it never captured the scale of the VC and startup boom that transformed the Bay Area. Chicago seems to be coasting on past momentum, and momentum decays unless new energy is continually applied. @david_perell

@lacherbauer I think crime in Chicago was worse in the 90s than it is today.

@loganb @_caswel @JCovetti Because someone might give you a bad social credit rating for failing to say "please" or "thank you" or whatever or for making some mildly offensive comment.

@loganb @_caswel @JCovetti The people who would get screwed over the most by this are people who are kind of rude but not criminals and who don't directly violate anyone in any way per se. Like certain autistic people for instance.

Also Madagascar and Papua New Guinea.

Also Northeast India. The furthest east part of India, near Myanmaar.

Regions of the world that people hardly ever talk about relative to their geographical size and population: Indonesia Central Asia (i.e., the -stan countries, minus Afghanistan and Pakistan and maybe Kazakhstan) Inland Brazil (especially the more agricultural parts)